Successful Techno Entrepreneurs Nidhi & Gyan Saxena

Recently the "2009 Colorado Companies to Watch" has selected DatamanUSA as a finalist. Nidhi Saxena is the CEO & Founder President of DatamanUSA LLC. Nidhi and DatamanUSA have demonstrated remarkable success in the past 8 years. From a 'One Woman Enterprise' in the year 2000 to a $254,000 company in 2003 to 212th fastest growing company in US by Inc500 in 2007 and a 3.8 million company in 2008, DatamanUSA has shown a phenomenal jump in revenue and has proven that it is a robust well run company. In light of her successful minority woman entrepreneurship, DesiShades has got some time to talk to the couple.

DesiShades: Hello Nidhi, It is a pleasure to meet you today. Can you please tell us about yourself?
Nidhi: Sure, I came to USA in 1996. Back home in India, I grew up at Thermal Power project sites as my father was an engineer. My education was in different schools. We travelled a lot because of my father's job. I did engineering from Madhav Institute of Science, Gwalior. After that I worked as Research Analyst at IIT Kanpur. I was married to Gyan in 1994. We went to England as Gyan was working with Tata Consultancy Services. We stayed there for a year. During our stay in England, Gyan got an offer from US based company. We went back to India and stayed there for few days and spent time with all the family members. We came to US in 1996. I worked with AMS and EchoStar for two years each. After my daughter was born it was really challenging for me to go back to work leaving her at day care. But we could manage with our work schedules. After my son was born in 1999 it was really challenging with two kids. During this time we decided to start a company of our own to have some flexibility of time. In 2000 we started DatamanUSA. We took up the office in Wyoming in 2003 and in 2004 we started in Colorado. For initial 3 years, it was really challenging for me as Gyan was traveling and I was taking care of the company and kids. But by 2004 we had stabilized and almost 500% growth in our first year of moving to Denver office. It is really a great experience and lot of learning is involved. Year 2005, DatamanUSA has created its position and was awarded quite a few awards at company level and individual level for me.

DesiShades: Can you explain about the obstacles, benefits that you came across in building the business as a minority woman owned?
Nidhi: Yes, there were a lot of apprehensions in the initial stages about the minority women owned business in technical industry. The initial challenges that we faced were all overcome by the quality service DatamanUSA provided to its clients.

DesiShades: How did you support your family with this full time business and your job?
Nidhi: All this is not possible with out the help and support from my family, Gyan and my kids Sanskriti and Sanskaar. I also get the motivation from my extended family. Gyan is really very encouraging. He always says that nothing is impossible for me. As I said after I had my son in 1999 I quit the job and started working for my company. I leave my kids at school and I work those hours at my office. I am there with my kids as soon as they come from school. I talk to them; I am there for their home work, afterschool activities and all their requirements. Business is like a third child and we, as a team are so proud of our business and our achievement. When I am committed, my employees are committed. I try to avoid evening meetings. Gyan and I work as a team and try to balance between the work, business and kids.

DesiShades: How did the economy affect your company? When do you think this economy will be stable?
Nidhi: Yes, the economy was really bad. We were so fortunate that the economy did not affect our business much. We followed our motto of "Value, Commitment and Integrity" and thus created a trust with all our clients. We are still profitable as every year. But I can tell that economy is really bad, and at the same time itís not going to be too long before we notice the recovery. We should start seeing positive signs by third quarter of this year.

DesiShades: Can you please tell us about your charity organization?
Nidhi: Yes, we have a non profit organization named Gyanidhi Foundation. The main focus of the foundation is to provide financial support to kids who are deprived of education due to lack of financial support. We always welcome any one who would like to extend their hands in helping Gyanidhi foundation.

DesiShades: Hello Gyan, what is your role in Nidhiís success as an entrepreneur?
Gyan: My role in Dataman is to provide strategic direction and vision. I describe vision and idea and Nidhi makes it a reality.

DesiShades: What is your advice for our upcoming Desi entrepreneurs?
Gyan: By sacrificing all the comforts at home, leaving the parents and your country, we came here to realize some dreams. If you have a passion, just do it, do it today. Hard Work, Persistence and Perseverance always pay back.

DesiShades: What are your future plans of expanding your business?
Nidhi: We are currently working with 13 state agencies. We are already laying our groundwork for Federal government projects. We want to be an active player in bringing back the economy. My aim is to make DatamanUSA a 10 million dollar company with in the next two to three years.

Itís really a great success story of a company that is flourishing and creating more employment opportunities. We hope DatamanUSA to reach its goals soon.